Boutique studio operator Barrecore is looking to expand rapidly throughout the UK and Europe. Tom Walker speaks to its newly appointed CEO

What’s your background?
My career in fitness began in 1992 after I graduated with a degree in sports and business studies. Over the past 25 years, I’ve worked in the UK and across Europe and held a number of senior positions in the private and public sectors – including stints as regional director at Holmes Place Health Clubs, operations director at David Lloyd Leisure, and chief operating officer of Aspria.

What brought you to Barrecore?
I see Barrecore as a fantastic brand. It has built a very dedicated and loyal community and occupies a significant space in the boutique fitness sector.

It was also clear that Barrecore, as barre fitness pioneers in the UK, had an excellent and unique product offering with very strong growth potential.

What’s the background to Barrecore as a business?
Barrecore launched in London in 2011 and was the first specialist barre fitness studio in the UK. Barrecore’s founder, Niki Rein, had recently moved from Los Angeles and realised the boutique fitness trend she had left behind was yet to arrive in London.

She recognised that Londoners needed an exercise regime that allowed them to fit a range of intelligent workouts into their busy lives. So Barrecore was born, with one ambition: to create lasting and positive change to people’s fitness.

What’s the concept?
Barrecore is a workout that uses your own bodyweight as resistance. Our classes are designed to work your entire body: creating longer, toned muscles; reducing body fat; and improving posture, alignment and flexibility. Classes cost £24–28.

Barre is big in the US. What are its prospects in the UK?
As well as the US, barre fitness is already very popular in Australia. It’s also rapidly growing in popularity in the UK. We see a significant opportunity to expand in the UK and Europe in the next few years. We wouldn’t want to put a definitive number on it in terms of locations, but we’re keen to scale the business rapidly and to explore all avenues of opportunity.

How many Barrecore studios do you have now?
We have nine clubs in the UK: six in London and one each in Manchester, Leeds and Bristol.

What are your plans for expansion in the UK?
We’ll bring Barrecore to four more out-of-London locations in 2017, as well as continuing with our London expansion.

We’re delighted to have secured funding from Octopus Investments recently, as this will enable us to push ahead with our rapid expansion plans. [The sum of investment by Octopus has not been disclosed].

What’s your secret to making boutiques work outside London?
Many people see boutiques as a model that will only work in London. However, our Bristol and Leeds sites are performing strongly, and we believe there’s significant scope for growth outside the capital.

Location and demographics are by far the most important factors. We’ve mapped our existing customer profiles against the rest of the UK and have used this to create an expansion roadmap. We take into account all the obvious cues such as fitness competitors too, but we also look for things like a luxury brand presence nearby.

What about growth in Europe?
We’re exploring opportunities in a number of European cities, but in the meantime, we already have significant international business through our Barrecore Online Video Workouts. Clients can take a Barrecore class at home or on the move, by streaming classes in HD quality from an extensive library.

What’s the secret behind Barrecore’s success?
We believe our studios are special places, not just for the lasting effects that Barrecore training delivers, but for the atmosphere and environment we create.

The quality of our instructors is also a USP. They are all selected through a rigorous interview process and then trained in-house by our dedicated instructor trainers. Every Barrecore instructor has to complete a minimum of 200 hours of teaching before they’re signed off to deliver a Barrecore class to our clients. We’re very committed to maintaining this level of quality instruction, as it enables our clients to get the best results from their exercise.

Might barre be another fad?
Absolutely not! The results our clients achieve fit with a very modern desire for a longer, leaner look and a workout that not both reduces body fat and improves posture.

Are you planning any changes to the Barrecore offering?
Our offering is constantly evolving. Our most recent innovations include Sculpt, where resistance bands are used to add intensity to signature Barrecore moves, and Signature Express, where the same workout intensity is achieved in a shorter session. In addition, we’re currently refreshing Nourish, our nutritional programme, and evolving our personal training offering.

Would you ever put a Barrecore studio in another health club?
We wouldn’t rule this out, but it isn’t in our immediate plans.

What’s the future for boutiques?
Boutique studios have been disrupting the fitness industry for some time now, as more traditional gyms are seen by some Baby Boomers and Millennials to be impersonal, less effective – and sometimes even lonely – experiences.

The boutique fitness sector is established in the UK now: it’s positively booming and is here to stay. The main challenges for operators within the boutique sector are finding the right sites and then maintaining the quality as businesses grow.